Modi govt hikes minimum selling price of sugar

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Modi govt hikes minimum selling price of sugar

Minimum Selling Price (MSP) is the rate below which the mills cannot sell sugar in the open market to wholesalers

Thursday February 14, 2019 7:49 PM, ummid.com News Network

New Delhi: Concerned over mounting sugar cane arrears ahead of 2019 General Elections, the government Thursday hiked the minimum selling price of sugar by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 31.

The move is aimed at helping the millers clear farmers' dues.

"We have increased the minimum selling price of sugar from Rs 29 per kg to Rs 31 per kg. This will help millers to make the payment to sugarcane growers," Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told PTI.

The minimum selling price (MSP) is the rate below which the mills cannot sell sugar in the open market to wholesalers and bulk consumers like beverage and biscuit makers.

Industry body ISMA had recently said cane arrears stood at around Rs 20,000 crore at the end of January.

The move comes at the time when sugar industry fears that cane arrears will touch Rs 35,000 crore during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, hurting farmers, particularly in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the main producers of the sweetener.

According to reports, over 25 million farmers grow 75% of India’s sugarcane in these two states, whereas Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are among the other main producers.

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